Surrounded by family

July 4th will never seem the same again. My father-in-law passed away on Independence Day. He died of lung cancer. We believe he knew about it long before he told us. But he was like that. The last thing he wanted was for his children to worry about him. It was his job to support them - it didn't matter if they were two or sixty. He was the father that you went to when you had a problem. It caused him great pain to have to ask for help of any kind and in the last few months of his life he had to ask to often.

He was a decorated WWII veteran. He served in the Pacific campaign. He never talked about it. Once in a while he would mention an old army friend, but never about what he had to do during the war. I always had the impression that he was bothered by things he had done in the name of God and country. He had lots of bad memories and didn't care to rehash them.

What he was proud of and would talk about anytime were his kids and grandkids. Five kids to be exact, 2 boys, 3 girls. Now 10 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren. All were his pride and joy. Except for his time in the army I don't think Ed got more than 100 miles away from home. Home was where the family was. He never made a lot of money, but the kids all had clothes and food and love. His wife Katy passed away 3 years ago on her oldest daughter's birthday. Ed spared my wife the same kind of joy/sorrow and died the day before her birthday.

Ed had been hanging on for days. His body had basically shut down. He hadn't eaten in days. He hadn't responded to anyone for almost 2 days. The kids had all been there to say their last goodbyes. Then as if he realized everyone was there he awoke. He looked at my wife and said "Can I have a cup of coffee?" For the next two hours it was like talking to the old healthy dad, not the one on the brink of death. It was a kind of last hurrah. He partied with his kids and grandkids, joking and laughing and talking. He ate pudding and ice cream. Then finally at about midnight he went to sleep. It was the last time he talked to anyone when they were sure he knew what was going on. From that point on it was a slow 5 day ride to the end. During that stretch in the hospital and finally the nursing home he got to see all of his kids and all of the grandkids except one. We all believe that is what he wanted. He wanted to see them all one more time.

He was surrounded by family when he died - surrounded by family in death as in life. Ed we will miss you!

Test of the email post.

This is just a test of the email posting option.  If you can read this it worked.

Muddled messages

Wclomee to the bolg of siipnplg psat 50. I tguohht you mihgt lkie to tkae a look at a mdleudd but amlnzgaiy claer maesgse form the aouhtr of the page. Is is not a wneodr taht you can raed tihs msaesge wtih not too mcuh toubrle. Knid of naet isn't it. Click on the title above to make messages of your own. Have fun.

Are you a geek?

Avoiding Wilma and other adventures

PJ and I were in Mexico from Oct 8 to Oct 19. While there we were watching Hurricane Wilma work her way towards us. We were lucky. We got out on the 19th. Others weren't so lucky. Our resort appears to have faired pretty well. The villas, each having 36 rooms are built to withstand hurricane winds. The resort also has housing for their help on the oppostite side of the road from the hotel, away from the Carribean. They use some large rooms over there to safely house guests that couldn't leave during the actual strike of the storm. The people that stayed had to spend 2 days in the temporary quarters. But the morning after the storm finally made its way off the Yucatan, the people were back in normal rooms, with full power, air conditioning, hot meals, running water.

Reports from those guests that stayed were impressive. The resort's staff had the place spruced up again in two days. There was some damage to the thatched roofs of one of the lobbys and a lot of severe damage to the jungle that the resort is built in. The resort is working on that too. They actually have a nursery on the grounds where they grow most of the native plants and trees so they can replace them in case of severe storm damage. After Hurricane Emily in July, they ordered 2000 palm trees to replace damaged trees and to add more to a new section of the beach being opened up for use.

All in all, the resort has it's act together. They take care of their guests and their facilities, including the jungle.

Now their only problem is the airport and the airlines. The resort is ready for a full load of guests that can't get there.

Check out pictures at WWW.GROUPS.MSN/PALLADIUMADDICT

If you are looking for a great place to go on the Mayan Riviera, you couldn't do any better.

Troubling times

In view of the events of the last week don't our problems seem a little trivial? Thouands, maybe even millions of people have lost their homes, businesses, even families. A couple of years ago my wife and I spent a wonderful week in Gulfport, MS. It was the middle of April and the weather was beautiful, mid eighties and sunny all week.

Now the hotel we stayed in, which was right across from the beach is gone, along with about everything else that was near the beach. While there we rode to Dauphin Island and took the ferry over to Gulf Shores Alabama. All of these places were hit with the storm surge and mostly wiped out.

I can't fathom the pictures I've been seeing on the news. It's all gone. Let's hope that the government, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army and lots and lots of church groups can help these people recover.

Palladium Grand Resort Pool Panorama 

Palladium Grand pool panorama

Above this you should see a large version of a panorama photo of the pool at the Palladium Grand Resort.

More jungle damage 

Believe it or not - this is the pool now - after the cleanup 

Cleaning the pool 

Repairing the theater roof 

More jungle damage 

Boardwalk and damaged jungle 

Jungle damage 

Repairing the thatch 

Main pool - yuk! 

More storm damage 

Where is the roof? 

More damage in the theater